Cognitive functioning in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)

A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests was administered
to 35 outpatients suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
(CFS). They were compared to 33 normal controls matched for
age, gender, intelligence, and education. The patients
displayed psychomotor slowing and impaired attention. The
learning rate of verbal and visual material for patients with
CFS was slower, and delayed recall of verbal and visual
information was impaired. Because there was a high
variability in cognitive impairment within the CFS group, it
would be inappropriate to generalize results to the entire
CFS population. Two neuropsychological variables indicating
aspects of psychomotor performance and verbal memory were
found to discriminate best between patients and controls.